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Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Leech Lake Fishing Report and Guide

As a fishing guide on Leech Lake you can only ask to catch boat loads of fish each and every day but the reality it's fishing and although we try our best those special days don't happen on each trip. Awhile back I received a phone call from Micheal in Iowa who said he and three of his friends have been going on a fishing trip every year for the past 30 years and was interested in Leech Lake. Micheal went on and explained the guys are use to the "rustic fishing" trip and cabin type feel. I recommend Chase on the Lake (Visit Chase on the Lake Website) which is far from the "rustic fishing" feel he had said the guys were used to. Micheal, after many conversations with the guys, had decided to stay at the Chase and fish with the fishing guides at Leisure Outdoor Adventures.

Pressure was on as mentioned above these guys were use to fishing Canadian waters. We had been fishing Leech for a full month now and the bite was up and down with good days and then some pretty tough days. Nervous to put these guys on fish...YES I was!

Our plan was to fish two full days and one 1/2 day. The first morning myself along with Greg, another Leech Lake Guide, met the four guys at the Chase Docks ready to go. The walleyes have moved into their summer locations, spread out on main lake flats, so the game plan was to cover water with spinners and crawlers. Spinner fishing is a fast action game of efficiency covering water and contacting more fish then traditional jigging and live bait rigging. So with my Jason Mitchell Elite Series 10'6" trolling rods and my custom Jolly Rogers Crawler Spinners away we went to the midlake structure of Leech Lake.

We pulled up to our first spot and immediately we caught a 22 inch walleye which was a great start. After that it was game on and the boys were catching mixed sizes of walleyes and lots of keepers! By lunch time we had our limit of walleyes in the Lund 2010 Pro Guide and we had lots of big smiles. The guys said, "We never catch fish on the first day!"

Day #2 Toby who was fishing a tournament the day prior was my teammate for the day. Our game plan was the same as the day prior. We got to our spot and made the first pass and caught three fish. The wind was flat calm and after that first pass things slowed down to catching only one walleye about every 20 minutes which still wasn't too bad but nothing compared to the previous day. "Boys hang tight our wind is going to pick up and these fish are going to go bananas." I described to the eager fisherman. I know they were thinking on a few occasions why haven't we moved? So I told them, "Lets not leave fish to find fish and just wait these conditions out." As I knew the wind was coming and it did. I mean it really did and instantly we had three foot waves and rods started to go off. On three consecutive passes we had three triples with all three rods going off at the same time. It didn't take long and both Toby and I had our limits in the livewells and we headed in for the day.

We docked our boats right in-front of Chase on the Lake, headed up to the 502 Restaurant, and with all the guys we got to enjoy an awesome walleye dinner that Head Chef Max prepared specially for us. Nothing beats freshly caught walleye and great company. While at dinner the guys said, "I think we are done with Canada, no more stinky cabins, no more 16 hour drive, and lots of walleyes right here in Minnesota on Leech Lake!" A response every guide wants to here after guys put their trust in our ability to put them on fish.

Day #3 We had even bigger winds out of the West and it was way too rough to get out to the main lake so we targeted some pike in the weeds and looked to catch some big fish in calmer water. We caught several pike trolling spoons and Toby found a giant 30.5 incher that his client Abe was able to do battle with.

What a great three days of fishing with all the guys and we thank them for coming to Leech Lake!

Now lets get to the nitty gritty of the presentation. There are some fine tune differences that can help you catch more walleyes while trolling spinners. First off I mentioned the longer 10'6" Jason Mitchell Elite Series Rod. There is no doubt in my mind that using these rods can make the difference. It gets the bait away from the boat and helps with the second most important part the quality spinner rig. Not all spinners are made equal and I truly mean this! I have been using spinners that are hand tied by Jolly Rogers Tackle. They are quality through and through from the best hooks, best spinners, best line and swivels. The other key component to those spinners are the lengths. It's almost nearly impossible to find a spinner length longer then 48 inches and Jolly Rogers comes in almost 10 foot snells which is another important reason to have a longer rod. Those two product truly have made me a better fisherman/guide and that is why I can tell you about them with confidence!

Book a Guided Fishing Trip with Leisure Outdoor Adventures Fishing Team at www.LeisureOutdoorAdventures.com
We are providing guided fishing trips on many lakes including the
Brainerd Lakes Area, Gull Lake, Whitefish Chain, North Long, Pelican
along with the Leech Lake Area.